The Best Music Festivals of Summer 2016, Ranked

Come springtime, choosing which summer music festival(s) to spend your hard-earned money on is as selective a process as choosing one cupcake out of an assorted box of every flavor: Everyone has a preference of frosting type and ratio (or, say, headliners), cake batter (non-headlining acts), additional toppings (food truck selection? location? ambience? additional offerings?), size... You get it—it's a hard choice. So to make it a bit easier, we rated our top 10 festivals of summer 2016 based on their lineups. (And let us give an advance clap to Osheaga, Panorama, Sasquatch!, the Governors Ball, and Pitchfork for all hitting the 30 percent or above mark of female headliners in their top 10 acts! Amazing!) OK, here we go...

#10: Summerfest, June 29-July 3 and July 5-10, 2016, Milwaukee

A Milwaukee institution and dubbed "the world's largest music festival," Summerfest has a little bit (actually, tons) for everyone—it spans 11 days with 11 stages and over 800 acts. Plus, with incredibly affordable ticket prices, this is a damn good reason to visit Wisconsin this summer. Favorite acts include Selena Gomez, Alabama Shakes, Luke Bryan, Kacey Musgraves, and many others. Our suggestion: Go in with a plan of attack, or you'll wind up totally overwhelmed. Too much of a good thing?

Rock 'n' rollers, this one is for you. Headlined this summer by Pearl Jam, Dead & Company, and the reunion of LCD Soundsystem (who you'll find on a lot of rosters this summer), Bonnaroo's major acts throw us back to some of the biggest rock names in the game—musicians who we've grown up referencing and respecting. We foresee a lot of lighter swaying bodies at "the farm" this year. Be sure to check out: Kamasi Washington, Father John Misty, and BØRNS.

Returning to Chicago's Union Park for its 11th year and put on by our sibling Condé Nast brand, Pitchfork's perfectly sized lineup includes some of our favorite rising stars (Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals) alongside cult obsessions (Carly Rae Jepsen, baby!). We're digging their equal opportunist lineup announcement—artists are featured in alphabetical order, eliminating any mention of headliners. Be sure to check out: Empress Of, Neon Indian, and Savages. Also to note: In a random sampling of 10 artists on this year's roster, 50 percent of them were women! Woo-hoo.

For its 25th year anniversary, Lolla turned out. Having only last week released its lineup announcement (collective exhale), the Chicago city festival touts a diverse and impressive (if not overwhelming) list of names from Red Hot Chili Peppers to YouTube sensation Lindsey Stirling. For us, it's the non-headliners that are most exciting: Alessia Cara, Chairlift, Wolf Alice, Classixx, Rufus Du Sol, Dua Lipa, Muna, and Lapsley to name a few.

Florence and the Machine, woo-hoo! Alabama Shakes, ra ra! Jamie XX? We're sold. Not to mention the location—Washington's Gorge Ampitheater—is the kind of place where happiness and serenity are found. Plus, there's quite an impressive electronic roster this year including Disclosure, the aforementioned Jamie XX, Todd Terje, Four Tet, Caribou, and others.

The lineup includes lady-power headliners like Ellie Goulding, Churches, and SIA, and we're thrilled to hear that Coachella (commonly known as Bro-chella) has upped its average 16 percent female acts to 27 percent in 2016. Plus, diversifying in a different way, Calvin Harris is the festival's first electronic music headliner (though his 2012 performance in the Sahara tent with surprise guest Rihanna was nothing to scoff at). This desert utopia is definitely one to experience in your lifetime, though the other festivals on this list are creeping close to gaining the same stature. But where else can you Uber chopper or privately JetSuite to? Be sure to check out: Christine and the Queens, Gary Clark Jr., Haelos, and Miami Horror.

Because first of all, who DOESN'T love an excuse to go to Montreal? Parle un peu de Francais, eat un peu de fondue. And with a line up boasting Lana Del Rey, Leon Bridges, Grimes, Vince Staples, andSt. Lucia, we don't need much more convincing.

The lineup on this Delaware installment screams summer chill, in the best way. A little Mumford & Sons, a bit of Kings of Leon, and one of our favorite favorites: Tame Impala. And what better a place to remember the legendary Maurice White while Earth Wind & Fire takes the stage to bring people of all ages and appetites together? I can't put it better than Jesse on the Firefly blog does: "There are few bands that connect people of different ages or colors like the one Maurice helped create. People instantly bond over their songs no matter their background. I believe that for most of us, when we go to a festival like Firefly, that connection is the best part. Finding like-minded people, making new friends, finding commonality is what I love about this fest. Nothing epitomizes that spirit like Earth, Wind and Fire." Amen.

With a lot of the same names floating around the top bills of the previous seven fests, Panorama's got something special: Kendrick Lamar. And with Coachella's east coast sister-fest poised for a big summer debut, occupying the Governors Ball's beloved Randall's Island just seven weeks later, we're confident all the tricks will be rolled out for this one. We wonder how big of a magical tie-dyed blow up creature can fit between Manhattan and Queens. The anticipation is major. Be sure to check out: AlunaGeorge, SZA, FKA Twigs, and The National.

As New Yorkers, maybe we're the teensiest bit partial, but the Governors Ball tops our list this summer for reasons that go well beyond the city. The festival has a different mix than most (Kanye West, Robyn, the Strokes, Beck) plus a great collection of must-sees (Chet Faker, Lord Huron, Misterwives, Big Grams, Eliot Sumner). Returning to Randall's Island for the sixth year, this growing festival is the ideal convenient city escape. We're also admittedly cooing over the nostalgic aspect: Sure, some of the headliners may have just as popular five years ago as they are now, but what's not to love about those summer classics? We're there.